Save this story for later. The phone is great, and it s terrific you can get a text from somebody that says good to see ya, but there s something about holding a piece of paper in your hand.
And with that,
George Clooney made his case for old fashioned letter-writing as a virtuous form of communication. (He did not divulge if his a typewriter fanatic like
Tom Hanks, or preferred to stick to the ol quill.)
Clooney appeared on Friday night s
Late Show with Stephen Colbert, to promote his forthcoming Netflix sci fi film
The Midnight Sky. While host and guest were chatting across the Atlantic (Clooney is currently in England) they got on the topic of letters.
Save this story for later.
When the Sundance Film Festival kicks off on January 28, 2021, in Park City, Utah, there won’t be a long line of people standing outside the Eccles Theater, watching their breath catch in the cold winter air and Main Street surely won’t be packed with revelers and sponsor activations, either.
Instead, on account of the coronavirus pandemic, next year’s Sundance will actually expand amid the contraction of live events. Rather than relying solely on in-person experiences, the festival has plans that extend far beyond the theater: a digital platform where patrons around the world can watch this year’s lineup; drive-in screenings at venues around the country; in-person showings at independent art houses nationwide where indoor events can happen safely and in accordance with public health guidelines; and even a virtual reality space that includes live performances and a lobby where people can digitally congregate.
On the day middle school music teacher Joe Gardner (
Jamie Foxx) gets a plum gig playing piano for a jazz quartet, he falls in a manholeâand dies. In Disney and Pixarâs metaphysical animated film
Soul, Joe is stuck in an agonizing conundrum that maybe strikes a little harder for debuting in the midst of the pandemic: the bitter taste of nearly, but not quite, accomplishing a lifelong dream.Â
Joe finds himself shifted from the day-to-day musicianâs hustle to facing the great beyondâand refuses to accept. He, or to be exact, his soul, ends up trying to sneak his way through the bureaucracy of soulsâwhich is depicted in what I can only call supremely Pixar-like fashionâto make it back to his body, his dream, his life.
Stephen Colbert celebrated the holidays on Mondayâs episode of
The Late Show by gifting viewers with what could have been Tony-winning actress
Laura Benantiâs final appearance as
Melania Trump while the First Lady is in the White House.
âStephen, itâs like I keep telling my husband: Donald, itâs over,â Benanti-as-Melania said, addressing  speculation that the first lady is ready to move out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (and, perhaps, her marriage) despite President
Donald Trumpâs numerous and fruitless attempts to overturn the election. âWe both know it ended a while ago. Now we just need to accept that and keep going until the prenup runs out.â
Days after
Christopher Nolanslammed HBO Max as the âworst streaming serviceâ and castigated Warner Bros. for its plans to release the studioâs entire 2021 slate onto its fledgling platform,
Denis Villeneuve has entered the chat. The filmmaker, whose highly anticipated take on Frank Herbertâs
Dune is scheduled for release by Warner Bros. next year, attacked the studioâs corporate parent, AT&T, for holding âabsolutely no love for cinema.â
âI learned in the news that Warner Bros. has decided to release
Dune on HBO Max at the same time as our theatrical release, using prominent images from our movie to promote their streaming service,â Villeneuve wrote in a first-person piece for